Agenda and minutes

Councillors and Officers to declare any interests which they have in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations were made.

To consider a report of the Democratic Services Manager.

The report sets out the Scrutiny Review Panel Procedure Rules and suggests that the Panel should adopt them for the purpose of conducting the review.

The Panel are requested to formally adopt the Scrutiny Review Panel Rules for the purpose of conducting the review.

Officer Contact: Daman Eaton on 0161 474 3207 or email: damian.eaton@stockport.gov.uk

A representative of the Democratic Services Manager submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) requesting the Panel to formally adopt the Scrutiny Review Panel Procedure Rules for this review.

RESOLVED – That the Scrutiny Review Procedure Rules be adopted for this review.

To consider a report of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration.

The report is designed to assist the Panel to scope the review and determine the areas which they wish to explore and scrutinise further.  Appendix 1 to the report outlines the background and current operation of the Stockport Homes Social Lettings Service.  At Appendix 2 is a copy of the 2012-17 Business Plan for the service

The Panel is requested to determine the scope of the review and outline areas which they wish to scrutinise further.

Officer Contact: Damian Eaton on 0161 474 3207 or email: damian.eaton@stockport.gov.uk or Anne-Marie Heil on 0161 474 3720 or email: anne-marie.heil@stockporthomes.org

A representative of the Corporate Director for Place Management & Regeneration submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) which aimed to assist the Panel to scope the review and determine the areas which they wish to explore and scrutinise further as part of the review of the Stockport Homes Private Rented Service.

Andy Kippax (Head of Strategic Housing, Stockport Council), Anne Marie-Heil (Head of Independent Living, Stockport Homes) and Arun Parmer (Private Sector Manager, Stockport Homes) attended the meeting to answer Councillors’ questions.

The following comments were made/ issues raised:-

·         There was a lack of specialist private lettings agencies operating within Stockport.

·         The offer of Stockport Homes compared favourably with that of the private sector.

·         Concern was expressed that Stockport Homes may be considered to be unfairly competing with the private sector and undermining the growth of specialist lettings agencies.  In response it was stated that Stockport Homes was filling an identified gap in the market.

·         A large number of landlords in Stockport were not professional landlords.

·         Stockport Homes’ Business Plan had planned for the service to have 80 homes by March 2015 and the service currently had 77 homes and were on target to achieve the target by the projected deadline.

·         The service had benefited from lower staffing costs than forecast and had secured funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government for a two year period.

·         Any future profit generated by the service would be reinvested within the Lettings Service.

·         It was important that the service was able to secure a more varied property portfolio to be better able to mitigate against risk elsewhere.

·         There was a potential for a conflict of interest to arise where the Lettings Service found itself evicting a tenant who then became statutorily homeless and requiring support from Stockport Homes in another capacity.

·         It was queried whether the Lettings Service should consider undertaking remedial works to properties where the landlord could afford the works, and where such costs would be offset against rent collected during the first year of letting, so as to bring empty properties back into the housing market.

·         A discussion took place around how the service would negotiate with landlords in relation to repairs to their properties.  In response it was stated that work needed to take place in relation to how this was communicated to landlords and alternative options open to landlords for the undertaking of such repairs.

·         There was significant demand for those properties available through the Lettings Service.

·         Lettings agencies were not regulated by the Government and as such, many tenants felt more comfortable dealing with Stockport Homes who have a good reputation within the Borough for the management of the Council’s housing stock.

RESOLVED – (1) That the scope of the review be defined as determining:-

·         whether the Stockport Homes Private Rented Service was targeting the right range of properties.

·         whether there was scope to improve the criteria around targeting of empty properties.

·         whether there was scope for the service to grow beyond its current property base and how that might best be achieved include both areas in the borough, types of housing and outside of the borough (geographical limitation).

(2) That the Democratic Services Manager be requested to collate evidence for the next meeting of the Panel providing:-

·         comparative data from (i) the offering of successful private lettings agencies from within South Manchester and (ii) examples of other social lettings agencies throughout the country.

·         an opportunity to conduct direct interviews with landlords and tenants on their experience of using the Stockport Homes Private Rented Service.

·         details of those complaints received from landlords in relation to the service provided by the Stockport Homes Private Rented Service.

To agree the dates of future meetings and the timescales for undertaking the review.

RESOLVED – That the next meeting of the Panel be held at 6.00 pm on 25 March 2015.